What Really Happened

This is Martin Packard MBE who talks about his book GETTING IT WRONG which is based on a report that was commissioned by the British government in 1964 and then summarily suppressed by Whitehall, and also rejected a UN request for a copy of said report.

Why was the Foreign Office so sensitive over this report?, because as the book shows, the Cypriots were readily able to sort out their own problems when allowed the political structures to do so, despite communal fighting instigated and encouraged from abroad. The real truth without the lies, myths and misrepresentations of Cyprus history (especially of 1964) is put straight by Martin Packard. It shows that the Cypriots could have created an accord between both communities without this outside interference. Both Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots should read the book as it demolishes both sides’ propaganda as to what happened in 1964.

If you play the the first video it will go through all 11 parts playlist but you can go to each part via the separate videos.

Packard reveals the British foreign office’s views on why Cyprus could not remain a unitary State.

Packard states that the Cyprus Government was sending money to Turkish Cypriots …which the Turkish Cypriots have always contended that the Cyprus Government never did and only Turkey was sending them money.
At around 9 the minutes mark, Martin Packard confirms NATO ordered the removal of Archbishop Makarios in 1964 with agreement of Athens government. NATO said Makarios was not good for NATO.

The Question And Answer Session.

At 5:15 minutes Packard explains that British High Commissioner Arthur Clark encouraged Makarios to change the Constitution. Yet the Turkish side blame Makarios for proposing changes to the Constitution! Packard says, top secret document he read stated that Arthur Clark would deny he encouraged Makarios to propose changes to the Constitution and that the British Government would pretend Arthur Clark had a moment of insanity when he encouraged Makarios to change the Constitution if Clark got found out!

At 0:40 seconds Packard says Americans and British already had a plan in 1964 to overthrow Makarios with Athens Government agreement.Sol confirmation that NATO (read the US) was behind the overthrow of Makarios in 1974.

“From the outset let me say that I’m a very passionate believer that am appalling injustice has been done to Cyprus and to all Cypriots. I don’t believe that is just something recent. I think that right from my time, and knowledge of Cyprus, going back into the 50’s the island’s been treated in the most appalling way that would not be tolerated in any other society.

“On the other hand I’m not a great believer in conspiracy theories. I think that there was a general mind-set at the time when I became intimately involved in Cypriot affairs in 1964. There was a general mind-set among NATO powers that whatever else happened, the governance of Cyprus must not be left ultimately in to the Cypriots. There was a variety of reasons for that, but it was generally accepted. So, the injustice came from this general ‘attitude’ first of all of the NATO powers. It came from the manner in which covert and intelligence operations were conducted in the region, and I’ll talk a little bit more about that later, particularly through the stay-behind and the GWD and the sheepskin organisations, which meant that extreemists within both communities were being armed through NATO and given special training in assassination and disinformation. And it is expressed as well, this injustice, in the degree to which I believe Cypriot history of that period has been subsequently distorted, and people have accepted views of Cypriot history up to 63-64 that were very very wide of the mark.

“I think everything that came later, the McMillan Plan 50′, the imposed constitution 60’s, the Acheson Plan in 1964, and the Annan Plan much later – all of these were concoctions that were designed to suit outsiders’ interests rather than the interests of the Cypriot people. And I believe, very strongly, that this was a terrible part of the ‘Getting it Wrong’ process because I think that had there been policies that were genuinely democratic and applied to Cyprus, it could have become a very constructive member of the community of nations of the Eastern Mediterranean and there would have been huge benefits to every single party concerned.

“Most of the book is about the period that I have read have been books by academics who have had to inevitably depend on very limited information. Reading Lord Hannay’s book, reading other books about Cyprus, I was struck by the degree to which they have simply excluded huge parts of the genuine history of that 63-64 period which the Turkish Cypriots very much represent as being the hinge at which Cyprus as it were moved into the separated stage at which it now finds itself.

“The problem with academic books is that there is so much that has not been reported and particularly in factors that are critical of Cyprus, and that, to my mind also comes back to the activities of the intelligence community there, and the way in which those intelligence communities deliberately distorted history in order to suit their own objectives.

“I think the importance of my book is that it squashes a number of myths. It gives people a basis from which to work over the 1964 period. It obviously, for me, gave me a chance to talk to people like yourselves and discuss with you the views that I have about what happened at that time.”